Stunning celeb weight loss transformations Part 3 – Chris Hemsworth

We have seen other celebrities who lost weight for movies before, like the Janet Jackson one, who lost 60 pounds, and the impressive muscle gain of Gerard Butler. This part is about how Chris Hemsworth prepared for the role of Thor focusing on the first part because he shot the movie RUSH between. Pictures for women and a workout routine for men. Here we goooo!

I think most of you know the Marvel comic figure Thor who is strong, powerful, fast and durable and he weighs approximately 500lbs (227kg) in the comic strip. Obviously, it would have been far too much muscle mass that the actor had to put on and any human being. His goal was to look like the Nordic God so let’s see “Who’s the man?” Oooops sorry, “Who’s the God?”.

“In the comic strip Thor looks to be around 500lb, so obviously that wasn’t my goal, but it was very important for me to look the part and be as powerful as strong as I could while still maintaining that element of agility”- Chris Hemsworth

Chris Hemsworth had to put on approximately 20lbs (9kg) muscle “to be” Thor the God of Thunder. His workout and training routine was based on the bodybuilders’ mass gainer routine and his regime was split into two parts:

The first is about high-weight and low-rep (8-12) to build muscle and the second is about getting leaner while maintaining muscle mass. Hemsworth had a lot of bulking up to do. For eight weeks his workout revolved around three core workouts (Chest/Legs/Arms) designed to increase muscle mass. He also worked with kettlebells to get cut through high intensity workouts and of course abs and cardio was included in the list of exercises.

“The basics still work: the same thing that got Arnold Schwarzenegger in shape 30 years ago still works today.” – Duffy Gaver, his trainer.

A bit of basics of muscle gain. The muscle mass or hypertrophy specific workouts usually based on 3-5 sets but the most common is the 3 sets with 8-12 reps and you have to hit the muscle group twice a week as you will see below. Yes, that means you have to train 5-6 times a week.

Stunning celeb transformation – Thor workout

1. Bulking for 8 weeks

– Week 1 – Sets 3-5 / Reps 8-12

– Week 2 – Sets 3-5 / Reps 8-12

– Week 3 – Sets 3-5 / Reps 8-12

– Week 4 – Sets 3-5 / Reps 8-12

– Repeat for weeks 5-8

2. Total body workout for 4 weeks

When Chris Hemsworth had finished his 8 weeks bulking period he was far too big for the role. He did not fit in the costumes so now he was told “you are too big” so he had to keep the muscle tone and got cut. In order to reduce his size for filming Thor he was trained by Mike Knight who is known for his Kettlebell workouts. He did also a bit of rope workout and a bit of classic strongman moves such as tyre flips, sledge hammers, power sprints, log presses as circuits varied with kettlebells.

Kettlebell Workouts

Here is a sample:

Circuit 1

Tabata (20sec on/10sec off):
4 rounds of Double kettlebell squats

8 rounds of snatches

Circuit 2
Kettlebell swings

– 30sec two-hand

– 30sec right-hand-only

– 30sec left-hand-only

– 30sec alternate swings

Cleans – 5 right, 5 left, 4 right, 4 left, 3 – 3, 2 – 2, 1 – 1 then back up to 5 each side for a total amount of 60 reps without rest

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About the Expert

Richard is a personal trainer who has more than 20 years sport background and he is specialized in functional training and movements. He is qualified in CrossFit, Olympic lifting, TRX and BootCamp training and also experienced in Kettlebell and Functional Movement Screen.